Back الإبادة الجماعية في كاليفورنيا Arabic Genocidio de California Spanish Kaliforniako genozidioa Basque نسل‌کشی کالیفرنیا Persian רצח העם בקליפורניה HE Genocid u Kaliforniji Croatian Genosida California ID California genocide SIMPLE Калифорнијски геноцид Serbian Folkmordet i Kalifornien Swedish

California genocide

For the conflicts during the settling of California by the United States, see California Indian Wars. For the system of forced labor for Indigenous people during the California genocide, see Forced labor in California.

California genocide
Part of the California Indian Wars and Native American genocide in the United States
"Protecting The Settlers", illustration by J. R. Browne in The Indians Of California, 1864
LocationCalifornia
Date1846–1873
TargetIndigenous Californians
Attack type
Genocide, ethnic cleansing, human hunting, slavery, rape, Indian removal
DeathsNo more than 2,000 (per Anderson)[1]
4,300 (per Cook)[2]
4,500 (per California Secretary of State)[3]
9,492–16,094 (per Madley)[4]
100,000+ (per Castillo/California Native American Heritage Commission)[5]
Injured10,000–27,000[6][7] taken as forced laborers by white settlers; 4,000–7,000 of them children[7]
PerpetratorsUnited States Army, California State Militia, American settlers

The California genocide was a series of systematized killings of thousands of Indigenous people of California by United States government agents and private citizens in the 19th century. It began following the American Conquest of California from Mexico, and the influx of settlers due to the California Gold Rush, which accelerated the decline of the Indigenous population of California. Between 1846 and 1873, it is estimated that non-Natives killed between 9,492 and 16,094 California Natives. In addition, between several hundred and several thousand California Natives were starved or worked to death.[4] Acts of enslavement, kidnapping, rape, child separation and forced displacement were widespread. These acts were encouraged, tolerated, and carried out by state authorities and private militias.[8]

The 1925 book Handbook of the Indians of California estimated that the Indigenous population of California decreased from perhaps as many as 150,000 in 1848 to 30,000 in 1870 and fell further to 16,000 in 1900. The decline was caused by disease, low birth rates, starvation, killings, and massacres. California Natives, during and after the Gold Rush, were targeted in killings.[9][10][11] Between 10,000[6] and 27,000[7] were also taken as forced labor by settlers. The state of California used its institutions to favor white settlers' rights over Indigenous rights, dispossessing natives.[12]

Since the 2000s a relative consensus of American academics and activist organizations, both Native American and European American, have characterized the period immediately following the U.S. Conquest of California as one in which the state and federal governments waged genocide against the Native Americans in the territory. In 2019, California's governor Gavin Newsom stated, "It's called genocide. That's what it was, a genocide. No other way to describe it. And that's the way it needs to be described in the history books." He apologized for the "violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history".[13] In a 2019 Executive Order, Newsom announced the formation of the Truth and Healing Council to better understand the topic and inform future generations.[14]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nazaryan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Magliari2023 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference nisev was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Madley 2016, pp. 11, 351.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference castdward was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Pritzker, Barry (2000). A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford University Press. p. 114.
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference slavecount was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Adhikari, Mohamed (July 25, 2022). Destroying to Replace: Settler Genocides of Indigenous Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. pp. 72–115. ISBN 978-1647920548. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  9. ^ Madley 2016, p. 458.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Krell, Dorothy 1979 p. 316 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "California Genocide". Indian Country Diaries. PBS. September 2006. Archived from the original on May 6, 2007.
  12. ^ Lindsay 2012, pp. 2, 3.
  13. ^ Cowan, Jill (June 19, 2019). "'It's Called Genocide': Newsom Apologizes to the State's Native Americans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  14. ^ "Governor Newsom Issues Apology to Native Americans for State's Historical Wrongdoings, Establishes Truth and Healing Council". California Governor. June 18, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2023.

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